Virginia Woolf: Character Analysis

When Peter appears in the novel, he is over come by his past. His present emotions are compromised because of his memories that and it leads him to breakdown and cry. His mixed emotions and identity lead him to talk himself into many situations, not knowing if it is actually the right decision. Peter tries to convince himself that he is no longer in love with Clarissa, but his painful memories surface causing grief and even an attraction towards Clarissa. “It was awfully strange he thought, how she still had the power, as she came across the room, to make the moon, which he detested, rise at Bourton on the terrace in the summer sky” (Woolf 47). As Peter and Clarissa start to reminisce about the past, and even Peter asking Clarissa if she is “happy,” the emotions with the past get brought into the present. …show more content…
“Do you remember the lake? She said, in an abrupt voice, under the pressure of an emotion which caught her heart, made the muscles of her throat stiff, and contracted her lips in a spasm as she said lake” (Woolf, 43). Her memories mix with her emotions causing the present thoughts to change towards Peter for a brief moment. Also, Peter’s emotion change. This causes his break down and running out of her house. While all these past memories flood into the minds of Clarissa and Peter, Big Ben plays its role, and “the sound of the Big Ben striking the half-hour struck” (Woolf 48). Time in the presence interrupted their past thoughts, realizing that Peter and Clarissa, no matter how much they think about the past, they are living in the presence, and time only moves on. In Peter’s situation, time is not powerful enough to overcome his feelings, creating this mental instability with his love towards Mrs. Dalloway. His judgment of how he perceives his past with Clarissa effects what he wants to do in the present, what he wants to say to her, and what he wants to do with his